Patient Safety Tips

Medical mishaps may occur in different health care settings, and those that happen in hospitals can have serious consequences. Patients have an important role to play at each stage of their care and the patient’s safety tips will serve to inspire them to be more involved in their health care.

Hospitals are the places of recovery and healing but there are also various risks for patients, such as medication errors and infections that can happen despite health professional’s best efforts. As a patient, one can do a lot of small things to make their health-care experience as safe as possible by becoming active, involved and informed about your health.

Being a patient means putting your trust in the care provided by doctors, nurses, pathologists and others. Patients need to speak to their healthcare professionals if they have any questions or concerns about their health.

The most obvious tip is to state your past illnesses and your current health condition to the health care professionals or their team. It is also important to share whether you've had, or have any allergies to any medicine or food to your healthcare member. Always remember, the more your doctor or caregiver knows, the more successful will be your care plan and recovery.

Some of the Patient Safety Tips are as follows:

·         Make sure that all your health professionals know all your medications you take, i.e. prescription medicines, over-the-counter medicines, dietary supplements, and herbal and alternative medicines.

·         Always carry all of your past treatment reports and prescriptions with you while visiting the hospital or to a medical appointment.

·         Ask the doctor to clearly write the prescription, so that you can read your prescription report.

·         Speak up to your doctor if you have any questions or concerns.

·         Always ask your health care professionals about your medication, such as what is the medicine for? How am I supposed to take the medicines? What food, drink or activities should I need to avoid?

·         Remind nurses or caregivers to wash their hands before they take care of you as this helps to keep infections at bay. Also keep your hands clean and dry.

·         In case of surgery, always choose a hospital in which many patients have had the procedure or surgery that you need.

·         Ask the doctor to explain your treatment plan like when will you get discharged from the hospital. If possible, get it in writing.

·         When being discharged from the hospital, ask your doctor to explain the treatment plan you will use at home. Get it in writing.

Your Health Care – Be Involved!